Natural fiber reinforced plastic (NFRP) has drawn more attention as an alternative materials, particularly when dealing with the concept of green or sustainable building. Although many efforts have been introduced, most results remain unsatisfied either structurally or economically. In this study, NFRP laminates were incorporated as the intermediate layer of hybrid structural insulated panels (hybrid SIPs). Two types of natural fibers, Jute and Hemp, were used to produce laminates for the intermediate layer. A total of 24 panels samples were tested using 4 point bending load scheme under half and full scale model followed by a statistical analysis of the results. The result shows the potential of using NRFP to improve the structural properties of hybrid SIPs.


Although the genotoxic mechanism(s) of hexavalent chromium (CrVI) carcinogenicity remain to be fully elucidated, intracellular reduction of CrVI and concomitant generation of reactive intermediates including reactive oxygen species and subsequent oxidative damage to DNA is believed to contribute to the process of carcinogenesis. In the current study, substantial interindividual variation (7.19-25.84% and 8.79-34.72% tail DNA as assessed by conventional and FPG-modified comet assay, respectively) in levels of DNA strand breaks after in vitro treatment of WBC with sodium dichromate (100 μmol/L, 1 hour) was shown within a group of healthy adult volunteers (n = 72) as assessed by both comet and formamidopyrimidine glycosylase–modified comet assays. No statistically significant correlation between glutathione S-transferases M1 or T1, NADPH quinone oxidoreductase 1 (codon 187) and X-ray repair cross complementation factor 1 (codon 194) genotypes and individual levels of DNA damage were observed. However, individuals homozygous for the Cys326 8-oxo 7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine glycosylase 1 (OGG1) polymorphism had a statistically significant elevation of formamidopyrimidine glycosylase–dependent oxidative DNA damage after treatment with sodium dichromate when compared with either Ser326/Ser326 or Ser326/Cys326 individuals (P = 0.008 and P = 0.003, respectively). In contrast, no effect of OGG1 genotype on background levels of oxidative DNA damage was observed. When individuals were divided on the basis of OGG1 genotype, Cys326/Cys326 individuals had a statistically significant (P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey test) higher ratio of oxidative DNA damage to plasma antioxidant capacity than either Ser326/Ser326 or Ser326/Cys326 individuals. The results of this study suggest that the Cys326/Cys326 OGG1 genotype may represent a phenotype that is deficient in the repair of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine, but only under conditions of cellular oxidative stress. We hypothesize that this may be due to oxidation of the Cys326 residue. In conclusion, the homozygous Cys326 genotype may represent a biomarker of individual susceptibility of lung cancer risk in individuals that are occupationally exposed to CrVI.


Opening packages is becoming more difficult with manufacturers making packaging harder to tamper with. Consumers must apply greater force or use tools to aid them in opening. With aging, the amount of force that can be applied reduces considerably which makes it important to view the packaging problem from the perspective of the older population. The objective of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of opening tools in opening different kinds of packages. The study revealed that the tools are mostly ineffective and do not improve performance beyond the use of the hands alone. In addition, the more complex the tool, the less effective the tool was as an aid to open packaging.


This paper presents a novel slotted ALOHA that has an enhanced capture effect even if heavy traffic is offered. Capture event success probability is improved by controlling the probability of high power transmission permission. This makes it possible to capture the other packets if only one station increases its transmission power. This control method is the key issue of this paper since the capture effect is one of the most promising ways to achieve high throughput without interference (collision) detection/carrier sense. We modified the conventional slotted ALOHA to yield a practical and useful packet transmission scheme. This modified slotted ALOHA has a finite buffer that stores backlog packets. Heavy traffic may cause buffer overflow which implies packet loss. When a station of a wireless LAN or another data terminal intends to send a packet, its transmission power is controlled by the number of stations in an area that covers the same cell shaped by an access point. As a result, only one of the packets can be successfully sent by capturing the other packets. This capture effect is improved significantly by the proposed scheme. This modified and enhanced slotted ALOHA achieves the maximum throughput of 0.74, which is higher than the 0.47 achieved by transmission power control in a previous paper. This is double the throughput of the original slotted ALOHA.


Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of bone, which frequently occurs in the second decade of life. Despite the improvements in neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the outcome of patients with chemoresistant or metastatic tumors is still poor. Therefore, there is a need for the development of more efficient therapeutic agents. BI 2536, an innovative selective inhibitor of Polo-like kinase 1, has shown anticancer potential promoting mitotic arrest and apoptosis in a variety of tumor cells, including osteosarcoma. Here, we present more evidence of the antiproliferative effects of BI 2536 on HOS and MG-63 osteosarcoma cell lines. Our results showed that nanomolar concentrations (10, 50, and 100 nmol/l) of the drug significantly decreased cell proliferation and clonogenic capacity, inducing mitotic arrest and aneuploidy. Interestingly, although BI 2536 mediated a moderate increase of apoptosis after 48 h in HOS cells, no increased caspase-3 activity was detected for MG-63 cells. In contrast to previous studies, we show that perturbation of normal mitotic progression by BI 2536 in these osteosarcoma cell lines results in caspase-independent mitotic catastrophe followed by necrosis. Our findings reinforce the likelihood of directing against Polo-like kinase 1 as a therapeutic option in the treatment of osteosarcoma.


The Federal Republic of Germany committed itself in June 1990 to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 25% of the 1987 level by the year 2005, as a measure of slowing down the increase in the greenhouse effect. The issue of a human-caused climate change, however, did not surface in Germany for the first time just a few years ago. The potential threat was recognized a half a century ago. This article traces the history of the German climate change debate in the last 50 yr and discusses the forces and events that shaped it. The way in which various societal actors - among them scientists, the government, industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media - entered into and influenced the debate is also examined. Unfolding the history of the global warming debate in Germany reveals how the country's current policy stance evolved.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scans of 15 patients with acoustic neuroma are compared with the results of computed tomography (CT). The absence of signal from bone has meant that the images are unaffected by artifacts and that small intracanalicular tumors can be visualized. The multiplanar facility of NMR is emphasized as this allows precise assessment of both tumor volume and its relationship to the ventricular system, brainstem, and tentorial hiatus. The different appearances produced by alternative scan sequences are illustrated and the possibility of predicting the physical constitution from scan appearances is discussed.


Abstract. This article discusses the potential of using drones for community-based counter-mapping. Drawing on action research conducted along the Kapuas River in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, we describe how drones were used for political interventions against land grabs by palm oil and mining companies. We share our experience of how to use drones to generate high-resolution aerial photographs that can be stitched together to create GPS-referenced maps that can support local communities' land rights. We argue that do-it-yourself drones can reduce the costs of and expertise hitherto associated with counter-mapping. While this creates the potential for a more inclusive technology, the question of who controls the technology and to what end is a political one. We conclude by comparing two interventions and discuss why the drone technology could be appropriated by local activists in one case but not in the other.


Creating desirable academic departments for individuals' well-being and quality scholarship is an important effort as well as a novel idea. The focus of this reflective article is twofold: (a) We present a social capital theory of social justice covenants as a product and process of community building, and (b) we share the multiple lived experiences of three scholars within the context of our department's covenant ideology and practice. We explore how faculty can promote community and civility by not only developing but also enacting an internally generated covenant while operating within a larger institutional context that produces tension. As related to our purposes, we examined the relevant literature on social capital, capacity building, workplace environments, and organizational covenants to frame our discussion of community-driven action in education. We include an extended application of a covenant that guides our departmental faculty's social outlook, interpersonal behavior, scholarly work, and communal activism. Although our focus is on change-oriented, grassroots activity within higher education, the public schooling context is considered.


Modelling urban flood dynamics requires proper handling of a number of complex urban features. Although high-resolution topographic data can nowadays be obtained from aerial LiDAR surveys, such top-view LiDAR data still have difficulties to represent some key components of urban features. Incorrectly representing features like underpasses through buildings or apparent blockage of flow by sky trains may lead to misrepresentation of actual flood propagation, which could easily result in inadequate flood protection measures. Hence, proper handling of urban features plays an important role in enhancing urban flood modelling. This research explores present-day capabilities of using computer-based environments to merge side-view Structure from- Motion data acquisition with top-view LiDAR data to create a novel Multi-Source Views (MSV) topographic representation for enhancing 2D model schematizations. A new MSV topographic data environment was explored for the city of Delft and compared with the conventional top-view LiDAR approach. Based on the experience gained, the effects of different topographic descriptions were explored for 2D urban flood models of (i) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the 2003 flood event; and (ii) Ayutthaya, Thailand for the 2011 flood event. It was observed that adopting the new MSV data as the basis for describing the urban topography, the numerical simulations provide a more realistic representation of complex urban flood dynamics, thus enhancing conventional approaches and revealing specific features like flood watermarks identification and helping to develop improved flood-protection measures.


This paper examines the nature of banking system using the literature on market failures and asymmetric information. After describing banking system structure and asymmetric information on banking system, the paper tries to determine the quality of banking system in OECD countries. Asymmetric information creates adverse selection and moral hazard problems in the banking sector. The asymmetric information approach explains the patterns in crises which effects global economy. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze moral hazard, adverse selection problems in banking sector of OECD countries after 2010 period. Thus paper aims to find out relationship between asymmetric information in banking sector and financial crises.


The Baltic Sea has experienced a complex geological history, with notable swings in salinity driven by changes to its connection with the Atlantic and glacio‐isostatic rebound. Sediments obtained during International Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 347 allow the study of the effects of these changes on the ecology of the Baltic in high resolution through the Holocene in areas where continuous records had not always been available. Sites M0061 and M0062, drilled in the Ångermanälven Estuary (northern Baltic Sea), contain records of Holocene‐aged sediments and microfossils. Here we present detailed records of palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental changes to the Ångermanälven Estuary inferred from diatom, palynomorph and organic‐geochemical data. Based on diatom assemblages, the record is divided into four zones that comprise the Ancylus Lake, Littorina Sea, Post‐Littorina Sea and Recent Baltic Sea stages. The Ancylus Lake phase is initially characterized as oligotrophic, with the majority of primary productivity in the upper water column. This transition to a eutrophic state continues into the Initial Littorina Sea stage. The Initial Littorina Sea stage contains the most marine phase recorded here, as well as low surface water temperatures. These conditions end before the Littorina Sea stage, which is marked by a return to oligotrophic conditions and warmer waters of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Glacio‐isostatic rebound leads to a shallowing of the water column, allowing for increased benthic primary productivity and stratification of the water column. The Medieval Climate Anomaly is also identified within Post‐Littorina Sea sediments. Modern Baltic sediments and evidence of human‐induced eutrophication are seen. Human influence upon the Baltic Sea begins c. 1700 cal. a BP and becomes more intense c. 215 cal. a BP.


Both cremation and inhumation were employed in the British Early Bronze Age, and the significance of the distinction between these practices has long been a matter of debate. Many authors have argued that the choice of mortuary treatment reflects differences in status. Inhumation burials often occupied central positions in Early Bronze Age barrows, while cremations were placed in satellite locations. In turn, the apparent gender differences between these mortuary rites – men tended to be inhumed while women were frequently cremated – is seen as indicating that women were of lower status than men. This paper will challenge this model, arguing that cremation was a strategy designed to facilitate the retention and circulation of ancestral relics by fragmenting the human body. As such, the differential treatment of men and women was not the result of status distinctions, but reflects their different positions and roles within Early Bronze Age kinship structures. In particular, the circulation of the cremated remains of the female dead played an important role in facilitating social, material and biological reproduction through the maintenance of inter-group relationships. The practice of cremation resulted in the construction of particular concepts of the self – concepts that underpinned the transformations in the technological practices and social landscapes that took place at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. As such, women's roles in these changes must be considered afresh.


Based on the model of tooth surface correction, tooth surface modification methodology of spiral bevel gears which reduces the sensitivity to misalignments was proposed to increase the stability of gearing. Advanced tooth surface modification with three segments parabolic is conducted, which ensures the contact regions' tooth surface topology almost been unchanged and other regions' tooth surface are corrected by with parabolic shape modification. And the misalignment tolerance, error sensitivity and strength after modification are compared with the former ones before modification.


Purpose – While fierce global competition has negative environmental and social impacts and may lead large companies to act irresponsibly, corporate social responsibility (CSR) academic literature, especially stakeholder theory, pays little attention to competition and market pressure. It only highlights the competitive advantage a CSR strategy represents for companies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between CSR and competition in order to contribute to the CSR concept through analysis of the conditions for its implementation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon the academic literature in economics and strategic management, on mainstream CSR papers and on the official disclosure and communication from companies listed on the "CAC 40" of the French stock market. The paper uses the definition of corporate responsibility which integrates companies' environmental and social concerns into all their activities. Findings – The following three major findings arise. First, on a theoretical level and in terms of corporate disclosure on CSR, a large gap is noticed in how the economic view and the CSR view of competition are represented. Second, it is observed that the limits of the competitive advantage obtained by CSR strategy while the "demand for virtue" is weak even if the stakeholders' "expectations" for responsible practices are strong. In fact, a typology of CSR strategies is proposed related to competitive situations. Third, the paradox of the CSR competitive advantage is underlined: specifically, it is gained only if not imitable, i.e. if companies prevent the mimetic practices which could spread best practices for sustainable development. Originality/value – The paper highlights the limits of the CSR concept within the liberal paradigm, arguing that the mainstream theoretical CSR framework based on the hypothesis of the convergence between firms' objectives and the common interest is not relevant. The framework of the neo-institutional theory is more appropriate to analyse the mimetic behaviour in competitive markets and corporate commitments in sector-based codes of conduct that define new norms of social quality.


A group of veteran police officers was studied in relation to the effectiveness of a stress reduction program which utilized a cognitive-behavioral approachto training. A new instrument, the Coulson Police Job Stress Discussionaire, (CPJSD), was field tested. Two control groups, a veteran group who received no stress reduction training and an academy group which received standard basic training but not the stress reduction program, were compared on pre—test and post-test Profile of Mood States (POMS) mood disturbance cores.
Contrary to the main hypothesis formulated, there were no significant differences found between the three groups on post-test POMS measures of mood disturbance when compared with pre-test measures. The construct validity of the POMS for use with police officers is challenged. The specific format utilized is discussed and suggestions are offered for future study design. Specific difficulties inherent in the study of police groups are examined. The usefulness of the CPJSD for police job stress reduction program is suggested, as is the need for further field testing of this instrument.


Presently, traditional educational approaches have resulted in a mismatch between what is taught to the students and what the industry needs. As such, many institutions are moving towards problem-based learning as a solution to producing graduates who are creative, can think critically and analytically, and are able to solve problems. In this paper, we focus on using multimedia technology as an innovative teaching and learning strategy in a problem-based learning environment by giving the students a multimedia project to train them in this skill set. The purpose of this project was to access the students' skills in framing and solving problems using multimedia technologies. The students worked in groups and each group had to pick a topic for their project, develop, design and present it in a CD-ROM. They were then surveyed on their attitudes toward the project and their skills as a team. Results showed that the students were very positive toward the project, enjoyed teamwork, able to think critically and became active participants in their learning process. Therefore, multimedia-oriented projects, like many other problem-based learning solutions, can be used alternatively as an innovative and effective tool in a problem-based learning environment for the acquisition of problem-solving skills.


Genre fiction, also recognized as popular fiction is an umbrella term as it comprises various categories, varieties, and sub-types. On occasion, innovative writers have practiced in mingling these methods and generating an entirely dissimilar variety of categories. In general, genre fiction inclines to place plentiful significance on entertainment and, as a consequence, it leans towards to be more widespread with mass audiences. But currently, writers are lettering beyond mere meager amusement and they are commenting on various socio-cultural issues, resulting in their writing more realistic. Furthermore, various life real things and norms implied in their writing are constructing the entire genre form and all its types more noteworthy and vital. As accredited by literary jurisdiction following are some of the leading classifications as they are used in contemporary publication: Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Crime and Mystery Fiction etc. The kind Crime and Mystery Fiction also has various categories for example, Cozy, Hardboiled, The Inverted Detective Story, Police Procedural, etc. In the present paper, Canadian crime fiction writer Peter Robinson"s novel In a Dry Season is studied in the light of this police procedural type of novel writing. The paper aspires to discover various police procedural features employed by the writer.


Introduction: Two particular areas which appear to create psycho-social tension following bariatric surgery are changes to food use and relationship dynamics. Food and eating are known to play significant roles within interpersonal relationships; however such roles after surgery are largely underreported. This study therefore aimed to explore participants' experiences of the roles of food and eating within the context of their interpersonal relationships, following bariatric surgery, along with how people might manage these experiences.
Method: A qualitative design was used, comprising semi-structured interviews with a homogenous sample of seven adult participants, recruited from a local bariatric support group. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), in order to generate themes based on participants' lived experience.
Results: There were three overarching master themes that emerged following the analysis of data: 'Disruption to usual social eating', 'Food as a creator of conflict' and 'Food as a connector'. Disruption to usual social eating was characterised by a sense of embarrassment due to physical illness after eating. Such disruptions acted as a cue for change, with some embracing this and others resisting it. Either way there was a sense that participants tried to make the best of their new situation in a way that worked for them. The second and third master themes of conflict and connection existed on a continuum and were dependent upon the impact of and reactions to disruption. Hence, food could assume the role of being a source of conflict or a connector within relationships. Tools which seemed particularly important for managing experiences linked to this continuum were showing pride in the changes, facilitating communication through the use of humour and using food as a gift.
Discussion: The findings were consistent with literature around food being closely linked to emotion and a source of maintaining identities/social bonds. Prior to surgery it may be useful for services to offer systemic assessments for prospective patients and significant others, so that the disruption to social eating and modified roles of food can be adequately prepared for. Other group based interventions may also be considered such as programmes with a mindfulness component; these may provide people who typically resolve emotional and social distress by turning to/using food, with alternative coping skills.


Changes in glycosaminoglycan composition occurring during the cell cycle were determined in B16-FlO cells sorted flow cytometrically with respect to DNA content. Incorporation of 35S-sulfate into heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate of unsorted and GI, S, and G2 + M sorted cells was determined following chondroitinase ABC or nitrous acid treatment; the incorporation into surface material was measured as the difference between the radioactivity of control and trypsin-treated cells. Incorporation of 35S-sulfate and 3H-glucosamine into cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC)-precipitable material was characterized before and after chondroitinase or nitrous acid treatment by Sephadex G50 chromatography. Long-term (48 h) and shortterm (1 h) labeling studies demonstrate that (a) the amount of total cellular chondroitin sulfate is greater than that of heparan sulfate, with larger amounts of unsulfated heparan than chondroitin being present; (b) the rate of turnover of heparan sulfate is greater than that of chondroitin sulfate; (c) greatest short-term incorporation of 3H-glucosamine into CPC-precipitable material occurs during S phase; and (d) the rate of turnover of both heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate is decreased in S phase relative to G1 and G2 + M.


Modern robust flutter method is an advanced technique for flutter margin estimation. It always gives the worst-case flutter speed with respect to potential modeling errors. Most literatures are focused on linear parameter uncertainty in mass, stiffness and damping parameters, etc. But the uncertainties of some structural nonlinear parameters, the freeplay in control surface for example, have not been taken into account. A robust flutter analysis approach in μ-framework with uncertain nonlinear operator is proposed in this study. Using describing function method the equivalent stiffness formulation is derived for a two dimensional wing model with freeplay nonlinearity in its flap rotating stiffness. The robust flutter margin is calculated for the two dimensional wing with flap freeplay uncertainty and the results are compared with that obtained with nominal parameter values. It is found that by considering the perturbation of freeplay parameter more conservative flutter boundary can be obtained, and the proposed method in μ-framework can be applied in flutter analysis with other types of concentrated nonlinearities.


A review was conducted of english-language peer-reviewed and gray literature on health and ethics written by authors from Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan. This was supplemented by the knowledge of co-authors who are involved in bioethics capacity building in these countries. Of the identified literature that focused on the application of Western principles, it largely discussed informed consent and revealed norms in clinical decision-making that include physician paternalism, family involvement in decision-making, and reluctance to provide information that might upset patients. It appears that Western ethical principles may be interpreted and applied in unexpected ways. The literature further indicates that, although there is some consistency with Western ideas, Islamic, Confucian, and Indian religious and philosophical traditions contain concepts not reflected in international guidance. Findings suggest scholars from these countries seek to enter into a bioethics dialogue with the potential to enrich and inform "international" frameworks.


In recent months, activists around the globe have harnessed the power of the Internet to raise awareness of the so-called "tampon tax," an umbrella term to describe sales, VAT and similar "luxury" taxes imposed on menstrual hygiene products. In response to pressure from constituents, five U.S. states and Canada have repealed their tampon tax. Active campaigns are underway in Australia, the United Kingdom and several other countries. Where public pressure has not been an effective technique, those seeking to challenge the tampon tax in the United States have turned to litigation. In four U.S. states, class action lawsuits have been filed seeking repeal of the tax and a refund for back taxes paid, alleging equal protection violations. In the international context, human rights law provides a promising foundation for similar legal challenges to the tampon tax because human rights law takes a capacious approach to gender equality. In the European Court of Human Rights, for example, there are several tax cases that recognize gender-differentiated taxes as a form of impermissible discrimination. This Article explains how the tampon tax violates equal protection and human rights norms. The tax also shows how deeply embedded gender is in matters of tax policy. Full realization of gender equality will require revision of tax laws. Girls and women use tampons and sanitary napkins for multiple days every month for at least 30 years because of their biology. At first glance, the tampon tax might appear to be the result of a misclassification of menstrual hygiene products as luxuries, while items like Rogaine and condoms, for example, generally avoid taxation. But these comparisons are inapt, as it is difficult to find a precise male analog to the menstrual hygiene products that women use. Nor is it adequate to explain the existence of the tampon tax as the product of women's historic absence from the legislature. This explanation is both simplistic and incomplete. Women's bodies in general and menstruation in particular have been and continue to be the source of great cultural (and legal) unease. Women's (involuntary) bleeding is meant to happen "out of sight, out of mind," whereas men's (voluntary) bleeding in war is meant to be celebrated.Part I of this Article provides an overview of the sales and similar taxes on menstrual hygiene products. Part II explains why, as a cultural matter, the tampon tax has gone unnoticed. Part III situates consideration of the tampon tax in the context of international human rights. Part IV explores current legal challenges to the tampon tax in the United States and outlines a possible human rights challenge to the tax in Europe. The Article concludes with a discussion of why the tampon tax has become a global issue and why the tax law provides a unique lens for examining issues of gender inequality.


A a joint project between the Texas State Historical Association and the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics, this project was designed to research newspapers as historical sources to document earthquakes in the Panhandle prior to the 1920s and to explore this approach as a potential methodology for other areas. The project had two components. One consisted of inspecting the newspapers available for the Panhandle Region at the Center for American History of the University of Texas at Austin and to search for any information on earthquakes in the region. The second was to inspect the microfilm newspaper collections from the University of Texas at El Paso to determine the possibility of utilizing their newspaper and special collections to document historical earthquakes in the El Paso area in a similar vein that we have done for the Panhandle historical study.


Climate change impacts watershed hydrology and contributes to alteration of hydrologic regimes in streams. However, global climate models (GCMs) operate at spatial and temporal scales that are too large to capture important watershed-scale hydrologic shifts. A method of disaggregating monthly ensemble GCM data into temperature and precipitation data series for daily, watershed-specific hydrologic simulations with SWAT was developed and assessed in the Soldier Creek watershed in northeast Kansas. A stochastic weather generator (WINDS) was employed to produce a baseline scenario (no changes from late 20th century conditions) and two scenarios based on ensemble means of 15 GCMs representing future conditions (A2 storyline) referred to as the 2050 and 2100 scenarios. Future hydrologic regimes exhibited non-linear annual and monthly responses in hydrologic budget components, such as surface runoff, baseflow, and soil moisture, to temperature and precipitation changes. For the 2050 scenario, the combination of higher temperatures along with decreased annual precipitation and increased spring precipitation resulted in higher surface runoff, baseflow, and streamflow in May and June with a longer drought season later in summer. The significant decrease in streamflow, runoff, and baseflow for the 2100 scenario reflected an increase in monthly and annual temperature rather than a direct result of precipitation decline. The 2100 scenario also produced a reduction in low-flow duration, an increase in the number of drought occurrences, and a decrease in flood frequency and duration. In retrospect, use of the stochastic weather generator to temporally downscale monthly GCM results while incorporating site-specific climate variability (such as occurs with convective storms often missed in coarse-resolution GCM data) produced more meaningful analysis of hydrological impacts, which is critical to predicting and understanding the impacts of climate change. Although this method allowed simulation of future-climate shifts based on GCM-simulated monthly shifts, it could not simulate potential shifts in climate patterns within a month, such as changes in transitional probabilities that govern the intensity and distribution of storms with months. In future work, translation of regional climate model responses into WINDS stochastic parameter adjustments will allow more accurate and efficient simulation. The severity of the increased drought and decreased flood responses simulated in this study would not be anticipated by review of precipitation trends alone nor by analysis of annual hydrologic responses alone. Similarly, many critical hydrologic responses reflected interactions between climate variables (e.g., precipitation and temperature) at sub-annual temporal scales, which highlights the need to consider climatic interactions in future studies of climate change impacts.


Recently a number of hydrogel-based micro- and nanoscale drug carriers have been reported including top down fabricated, highly monodisperse nanoparticles of specific sizes and shapes. One critical question on such approaches is whether in vivo swelling of the nanoparticles could considerably alter their geometry to a point where the potential benefit of controlling size or shape could not be realized. Little has been reported on experimental characterization of the swelling behavior of nanoscale hydrogel structures, and current theoretical understanding is largely based on bulk hydrogel systems. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) capsules, we have characterized the swelling behavior of nano-imprinted hydrogel particles of different sizes and aspect ratios. Our results indicate a size-dependent swelling which can be attributed to the effect of substrate constraint of as-fabricated particles, when the particles are still attached to the imprinting substrate. Numerical simulations based on a recently developed field theory and a nonlinear finite element method were conducted to illustrate the constraint effect on swelling and drying behavior of substrate-supported hydrogel particles of specific geometries, and compared closely with experimental measurements. Further, we present a theoretical model that predicts the size-dependent swelling behavior for unconstrained sub-micron hydrogel particles due to the effect of surface tension. Both experimental and theoretical results suggest that hydrogel swelling does not significantly alter the shape and size of highly crosslinked nanoscale hydrogel particles used in the present study.


Images undergo deterioration in quality when processed by some means. The Signal strength drops when it undergoes a series of operations. The main deciding factor for this degradation therefore depends on the signal to noise ratio of the processed image with respect to the unprocessed image that is how much loss in the quality of the processed image or how much intervention of noise occurs during processing. Using the SWT 2D denoising technique we compensate for such noise distortions using MATLAB as a platform. The proposed algorithm exhibits promising results from quantitatively and qualitatively points of view.


Traditional kingships and other local governments that evolved among Burma's peoples over
many centuries were largely stripped of their authority after Britain's 19th century conquest of
Burma. Colonial administration continued with limited local self-government until the Union of
Burma achieved independence in 1948. The new state became an independent federal republic and
the bicameral parliament came into being. The new government, although beset by ethnic strife as
minority peoples demanded autonomy from the Burmese majority, survived as a representative
government until a military coup in 1962 that ended the Democratic rule. Since Burmese
independence, Burma (actually Myanmar) were marked by successive insurgencies, beset with
demands of the various ethnic groups all wanting a measure of autonomy. Burma's diverse
population played a major role in defining its politics, history, culture and demographics. The
various ethnic groups had been demanding and are still striving for autonomy despite central
government oppression. The country continues to struggle to mend its ethnic tensions.


Abstract The timing of weed seedling emergence relative to the crop is important in planning and optimizing the time of weed control, but very little work has been done to predict seedling emergence of tropical weed species, especially in low-input and small-scale farms. We developed a simple model based on hydrothermal time to predict seedling emergence of tropic ageratum. Hydrothermal time at 2-cm soil depth was calculated from soil moisture and soil temperature simulated from several micrometeorological and soil physical variables. The model was developed using 5 yr of field emergence data from a continuous corn–cassava production system in southwestern Nigeria. Percentage of cumulative seedling emergence from the 5-yr data set was fitted to cumulative soil hydrothermal time using a Weibull function. The predicted cumulative emergence curve significantly matched observed field emergence (r2 = 0.83). Model predictions were evaluated with root mean square error (RMSE) using four field emergence data sets from southeastern Nigeria (RMSE ≤ 10.1) and Los Banos, Philippines (RMSE = 8.9). RMSE values ≤ 10 indicated that predictions represented observations well. With such models, extension personnel working on tropical soils, especially in West Africa, may be able to provide additional advice to farmers on the appropriate time for the management of tropic ageratum. Nomenclature: Tropic ageratum, Ageratum conyzoides L. AGECO; cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz; corn (maize), Zea mays L.


Background Non ambulant children with cerebral palsy are at risk of progressive neuromuscular scoliosis, typically deteriorating during pubertal growth spurt. We present 2 girls in whom sudden deterioration of scoliosis, in retrospect, marked pubertal growth spurt, despite no evidence of usual secondary sexual characteristics or biochemical changes. Recognition of this allowed definitive spinal surgery to go ahead at the optimum time. Method Notes and Xray review. Results Case 1: This female child had severe cerebral palsy due to documented hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. From 7.5 years, there was sudden worsening of the scoliosis over the next 18 months (Cobb angle of 600 progressed to >1000). She had been investigated for early puberty and had no clinical secondary sexual characteristics or biochemical evidence of precocious puberty. She underwent spinal fusion at just 8.8 years; subsequently she developed typical secondary sexual characteristics and menarche at 9.0 years. Case 2: This female child had severe cerebral palsy secondary to epileptic encephalopathy. Precocious puberty was evident aged 6 and she commenced GnRH analogue therapy (Decapeptyl 11.25 mg, 10 weekly). From 8.0 there was rapid worsening of her scoliosis with Cobb angle of 490 progressing to 920 two years later. Clinical & biochemical assessment suggested her precocious puberty to be well controlled. She underwent spinal fusion at 11 years, and developed secondary sexual characteristics soon after this. Discussion Definitive scoliosis surgery is rarely considered before the teenage years, as it is assumed the spine has still to undergo its peak growth associated with puberty. However if correction is delayed after peak growth, the scoliosis curve stiffens, making the surgery more challenging to perform. The timing of puberty in children with severe disabilities can be hard to predict. Rapid progression of scoliosis indicated that spinal growth was occurring despite lack of usual secondary sexual characteristics associated with puberty. Treatment with GnRH analogues in the second case did not avoid skeletal sequelae of early puberty. Conclusion Awareness of the skeletal manifestations in puberty can facilitate appropriate early operative management, halting further progression of scoliosis and its complications.


This study investigated how Min proficiency influenced the realization of Mandarin tones in Mandarin-Min bilinguals. Forty subjects recruited were divided into the high and the low Min proficiency groups. Isolated Mandarin syllables carrying one of the four Mandarin tones were recorded. Results showed that Min proficiency was roughly in negative correlation with pitch height for high tonal targets. Gender differences were also observed. Specifically, while the high Min proficiency males made a parallel shift downwards in register, the high Min proficiency females made used of a narrower tonal range. These indicated that Min proficiency did contribute to dialectal differences found in pitch height use in Mandarin tones though the nuance differences in how the effect of Min applied was determined by factors not identifiable at the present stage.


This study traces the evolving role of NHS doctors in management, from the early years of informal, but highly influential involvement, to the formalised and accountable positions they now occupy in management. The study attempts to assess whether doctors are "the natural managers" of the NHS and, if so, the implications of this. The associated argument, which is pursued throughout the study, is that power and authority need to be brought together in order for management to be effective and argues that the involvement of doctors in management is the only realistic way to bring this about. A qualitative research approach has been used to explore through interviews, the views, opinions and experiences of 30 key informants, including Consultant Medical staff, (many of whom occupy Medical/Clinical Director positions). General Medical Practitioners, Chief Executives, senior NHS Executive and Health Authority officials, and other health professionals. The study, which is mainly centred on the operational level in secondary care, concludes that the active, formal involvement of doctors in management does bring about the blend of power and authority which was previously missing, but no over-riding view was expressed by informants to suggest that this means doctors are "the natural managers." In order to make better use of clinical and other resources, a shared partnership in decision making at the top of the management structure between the senior doctor manager and the lay Chief Executive is required. More encouragement is needed to develop the present fragile role of doctors in management in order to secure the relatively untapped source of managerial power and authority which the involvement of doctors in management can bring about.


Left-ventricular outflow tract obstructions (LVOTO) encompass a wide spectrum of phenotypically heterogeneous heart malformations which frequently cluster in families. We performed family based whole-exome and targeted re-sequencing on 182 individuals from 51 families with multiple affected members. Central to our approach is the family unit which serves as a reference to identify causal genotype-phenotype correlations. Screening a multitude of 10 overlapping phenotypes revealed disease associated and co-segregating variants in 12 families. These rare or novel protein altering mutations cluster predominantly in genes (NOTCH1, ARHGAP31, MAML1, SMARCA4, JARID2, JAG1) along the Notch signaling cascade. This is in line with a significant enrichment (Wilcoxon, p< 0.05) of variants with a higher pathogenicity in the Notch signaling pathway in patients compared to controls. The significant enrichment of novel protein truncating and missense mutations in NOTCH1 highlights the allelic and phenotypic heterogeneity in our pediatric cohort. We identified novel co-segregating pathogenic mutations in NOTCH1 associated with left and right-sided cardiac malformations in three independent families with a total of 15 affected individuals. In summary, our results suggest that a small but highly pathogenic fraction of family specific mutations along the Notch cascade are a common cause of LVOTO.


Based on the research of foot characteristics of insecta, a climbing robot's mechanical structure and kinematics are analyzed, and the main crawling institutions was designed by a kind of bionic four-bar linkage. Claws are made of sharp spines, claws are composed of a number of toes which are flexible structure with local degrees of freedom, they have a grate adaptivity to the rough wall. We have studied the characteristics of the rough wall climbing, and made analysis affection of reliability with the angle perched on. The experimental study indicates spine planning and structure design, material selection are reasonable.


Steady-state heat transfer by natural convection in a layered porous cavity is examined by using homogeneous anisotropic model. The geometry considered is a two-dimensional square enclosure comprising of three or four porous layers with non-uniform thickness and distinct permeability. The cavity is subjected to differential heating from the vertical walls. The results, which include the flow patterns and temperature profiles as well as the heat transfer coefficients, are presented for a wide range of permeability ratio, sublayer thickness ratio, and Rayleigh number. Particularly, the heat transfer results obtained are compared with those reported from a rigorous numerical model for layered porous media. In addition, the results are compared with the lumped system model that was proposed recently. It has been found that homogeneous anisotropic model predicts the heat transfer coefficient reasonably well within the conductive flow regime. However, beyond this regime, the model fails to represent the layered case for the effective permeabilities and sublayer thickness ratios considered. On the other hand, it is observed that the lumped system model offers better agreement to the heat transfer coefficient of the actual layered porous system over a wider range of parameters and which also significantly reduces computational efforts.© 2008 ASME


Abstract : Early in the literature review for the Independent Research and Development Project for Eliciting and Analyzing Quality Requirements, the potential conflict of quality efforts (perceived as time consuming) with organizational management direction (driven by time-to-market and cost considerations) was identified. Quality attributes are influenced by the selection and development of components that make up a system, as well as the development environment in which the system is created. A variety of information sources, including conferences, workshops, pilot projects, and technical assessments, was tapped to identify specific management barriers to the adoption of improved elicitation approaches and appropriate organizational behaviors that facilitated the use of improved mechanisms for the elicitation and analysis of quality requirements. This report documents the ways in which the organizational and project management environment for system development can support or reject improved quality requirements elicitation mechanisms. In addition, this report identifies specific activities as promoting improved quality requirements elicitation when they are embedded into the system development life-cycle structure.


AIMS
The aim of this paper is to report the rates and reasons for refusal given by 817 eligible participants from 10 completed and ongoing nursing and behavioural medicine studies in paediatric oncology from 1994 to 2004.

BACKGROUND
Eligible participants have the right to accept or decline participation in research studies. Information about rates of refusal and reasons for refusal could be useful in determining participant-perceived burden related to study participation, in accurately estimating the time needed to accrue an adequate number of participants to achieve the study aims, and in interpreting study findings from certain groups of participants.

METHODS
A 13-item survey form about study characteristics was completed prospectively for each study included in this report; categories of reasons for refusal were inductively identified and defined using a semantic content analytic technique.

RESULTS
The overall rate of refusal was 23.6% (range: 6.7-46.7%). The studies that involved blood sampling or end-of-life decision-making had the highest refusal rates and an instrumentation study had the lowest. Eligible male participants had consistently higher rates of refusal than did females across the 10 studies. Nine categories of refusal were inductively identified, with the most commonly reported reason being the burden of the research methods.

CONCLUSION
A careful informed consent process will still result in some refusals. The refusal rates reported here can be used to help future researchers more accurately estimate accrual periods for studies involving blood sampling or investigating sensitive topics in paediatric oncology.


The expression of the newly described human retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR alpha) in six nonlymphoid and six lymphoid leukemia cell lines and nine freshly obtained samples of leukemia cells from patients with acute nonlymphoid leukemia was assessed by Northern blot analysis, using a full length cDNA clone of RAR alpha as probe. RAR alpha was expressed in all 12 cell lines and in all fresh leukemia samples as two major transcripts of 2.6 and 3.5 kb in size. Levels of RAR alpha expression and transcript sizes in retinoid-sensitive cells (such as HL60 or fresh promyelocytic leukemia cells) were not different from those in other samples. Moreover, expression of RAR alpha was not significantly modulated by exposure to cis-retinoic acid (cisRA) in either cisRA-responsive or unresponsive cells. By using a 3' fragment of the RAR alpha gene as a probe, we confirmed that the transcripts visualized did not represent the homologous RAR beta gene. RAR alpha appears to be expressed in most human leukemia cells regardless of the type of biologic response to retinoic acid.


This book examines existing international disputes resolution institutions of both general and specific subject-matter jurisdiction. Uniquely, it assesses both procedural rules and essential case-law, making it relevant for both academics and practitioners in international law.


The United States stands at a crossroads in how to pay for health care. Fee for service, the dominant payment model in the U.S. and many other countries, is now widely recognized as perhaps the single biggest obstacle to improving health care delivery. A battle is currently raging, outside of the public eye, between the advocates of two radically different payment approaches: capitation and bundled payments. The stakes are high, and the outcome will define the shape of the health care system for many years to come, for better or for worse. In this article, the authors argue that although capitation may deliver modest savings in the short run, it brings significant risks and will fail to fundamentally change the trajectory of a broken system. The bundled payment model, in contrast, triggers competition between providers to create value where it matters--at the individual patient level--and puts health care on the right path. The authors provide robust proof-of-concept examples of bundled payment initiatives in the U.S. and abroad, address the challenges of transitioning to bundled payments, and respond to critics' concerns about obstacles to implementation.


A new series of ReBiO3 (RBO, Re=Y, Sm or other lanthanide) layers have been prepared on single crystal LaAlO3 or SrTiO3 respectively by a low-cost chemical solution deposition (CSD) method, and their structures have been investigated. With deferent Re element, the ReBiO3 phase has a similar cubic lattice with the pseudo-cubic lattice parameter a' of about 3.81~3.94Å, which is closely matched to that of the ReBa2Cu3Ox (RBCO). In addition, these ReBiO3 phase are stable when they are sintered on 750~1050°C. After annealed below 850°C in air, highly c-axis oriented ReBiO3 layers can be formed on the (100) plane of single crystal LaAlO3 or SrTiO3. Observed under SEM, these layers appear very dense, smooth, pinhole-free and crack-free morphology. With the matched lattice parameter, lower annealing temperature, good grain-orientation and smooth surface, ReBiO3 layers should be candidates for the buffer layers of RBCO coated conductor. As a proof, a superconducting layer of YBCO has been deposited also by a CSD approach on one of these layers and show good texture and expected superconductivity.


Anxiety in mathematics is a critical challenge facing secondary school students in Nigeria. Previous studies with focus on the improvement of this challenge are scarce. Specifically, there is paucity of studies using Numerical Cognition and Emotional Freedom techniques in solving the above challenges, This study therefore investigated the effects of numerical cognition and emotional freedom techniques on mathematics anxiety among non-science students with pseudo-dyscalculia in Oyo State. Pretest, post-test, control group quasi experimental design was adopted for the study. One hundred and two students were sampled through simple random sampling. Mathematics Anxiety Scale (α = 0.89), Mathematics Efficacy (α = 0.86) and Pseudo-dyscalculia scale (α = 0.93) were administered to obtain data for the study. Therapeutic packages used for the intervention were Numerical Cognition and Emotional Freedom. Seven hypotheses were tested at 0.01 level of significance. Data was analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The study revealed main effect of treatment on Mathematics Anxiety; F (2,109) = 173.020, p<.01. Meridian-Based intervention was more effective (mean = 33.78) than Numerical cognition (mean = 45.35) in the reduction of Mathematics anxiety. There was significant main effect ; F(1, 109 = 21.00, p<.01); interactive effect F(2, 109 = 6.116, p<.01 of mathematics efficacy and Treatment on mathematics anxiety of the participants. The two packages were effective in reducing mathematics anxiety among the participants. Based on the findings, Educational Psychologists, Counselling Psychologist and other educational related bodies could adopt the packages for educational diagnosis to improve academic performance of students with academic phobia.


We carried out various stress measurements in boreholes penetrating the northern segment of the Chelungpu fault, drilled about 5 years after the 1999 Chi‐Chi, Taiwan, earthquake. In the possible depth range of the Chelungpu fault, three major fault zones were encountered. Clearly recognizable principal stress rotations in the vicinity of the shallowest major fault zone, at 1133 m depth in hole B, suggest that this fault zone ruptured during the 1999 earthquake. Moreover, the fault's rupturing altered the stress state in the area surrounding this fault zone. In this paper, we constrain the possible magnitudes of the current principal horizontal stresses around the fault zone and show that the current stress state belongs to a normal or strike‐slip fault regime. Therefore, the stress state was changed from that of a reverse fault regime by the rupturing.


The report focuses on the potential of the development of small and mid-size businesses in Moldova. It provides an economic overview of the country, and then analyzes various best practices and lessons learned from the development of SMEs in the Visegrad countries, especially Hungary. The report provides a description of economic developments, main trade figures, relevant labor developments, migration and the role of remittances and defines the bottlenecks for SME development in the country. The authors built their analysis on available literature and statistics as well as their own survey and interview series. The study highlights six case studies relevant for SME development selected for deeper investigation such as simplified tax schemes, online tax reporting, entrepreneurship education, agriculture and producers' organizations, the wine industry and issues of measurement of the SME sector. Finally the report draws up potential intervention schemes for Moldovan stakeholders and provides further recommendations for longer term initiatives and actions taken for the support of economic and SME development.


Background: The use of new technologies in education is a topic that has attracted the attention of educational experts over the past two decades. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an instructional model enriched with assistive technology on the achievement satisfaction of people with physical-motor impairments in learning English. Methods: The research method is semi-experimental, with a pre-test/post-test design using a control group. The statistical population consisted of male individuals with physical mobility impairments studying at Imam Ali Educational Center in Tehran. To determine the sample size,Cohen's (1986) table was used. Based on the sample size table, 16 people were selected. In this method, after drawing up a student list with a random number table, the sample was selected after checking criteria for entry and exit. The experimental group was trained in six sessions using an instructional model enriched with online and offline assistive technologies, and the control group was trained in the usual way. Results: The mean ± standard deviation (SD) for pre- and post-test in the experimental group were 75.50 ± 5.90 and 82.25 ± 6.29, respectively, and was 75.38 ± 11 and 77.37 ± 11.91 in the control group. The results of the analysis of covariance between adjusted means of both groups for variable of academic satisfaction show a significant difference between the two groups (F =20.06, P < 0.01). The effect size was 0.60. Conclusion: Using an instructional model enriched with assistive technology can be useful in teaching English to individuals with physical-motor impairments.


Straightforward semi-phenomenological models have been developed for highly porous polyurethane foams to predict the macroscopic non-acoustic parameters involved in the classical Johnson-Champoux-Allard model (i.e., porosity, airflow resistivity...) from microstructure properties (i.e, strut length, strut thickness and reticulation rate). These microstructure properties are measured using sophisticated optical methods (i.e., optical microscope, SEM) and a large variability can be observed due to great complexity of the 3D microstructure; variability which also depends on the precision of the measurement device. This work investigates how the variability associated with the model inputs affects the model outputs (i.e., non-acoustic parameters, surface impedance and sound absorption coefficient). The sensitivity analysis is based on the Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (FAST). It helps quantify the correlation between the input parameters and identify the parameters contributing the most to output variability, thus requiring precise measurement. This study illustrates the preponderant impact of the reticulation rate (i.e, open pore content) on acoustic performances and guides the user on the required optical measurement device.


We consider the problem of designing distributed scheduling algorithms for wireless networks. We present two algorithms, both of which achieve throughput arbitrarily close to that of maximal schedules, but whose complexity is low due to the fact that they do not necessarily attempt to find maximal schedules. The first algorithm requires each link to collect local queue-length information in its neighborhood, and its complexity is otherwise independent of the size and topology of the network. The second algorithm, presented for the node-exclusive interference model, does not require nodes to collect queue-length information even in their local neighborhoods, and its complexity depends only on the maximum node degree in the network.


This paper investigates the employment effects of a targeted subsidy scheme implemented in Turkey following the 2008 crisis. The Turkish government started a subsidy program in 2008 to generate new employment for younger men and all women, which are the relatively disadvantaged groups in the Turkish labor markets. The program puts men of age 18-29 and all women into the treatment group, while men of age 30 and above are placed into the control group. We use a nationally representative micro-level dataset and a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the causal effect of this program. On aggregate, the subsidy program seems to be ineffective in increasing the employment probabilities of those individuals in the target group. However, when heterogeneity is accounted for by dividing the treatment group into several sub-groups, we observe that the program has been notably effective on some of those sub-groups. In particular, the increase in employment probability is high for older women, while a weaker positive effect is observed for younger women and almost no effect is detected for younger men. The effect on older women is subject to further heterogeneity: the program has increased the employment probabilities of low-educated and/or low-skill older women rather than the high-educated and/or high-skill ones.


With the development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), researchers have acquired satisfactory performances on computer vision tasks such as image classification and semantic segmentation. However, CNNs contain millons of weight parameters and demand huge storage and computation resources, making it hard to deploy on constrained hardwares. To compress the model size and accelerate the deployment speed, many model compression methods have been proposed, including quantization methods that aim to reduce network redundancy by decreasing the representational bits for weights (and activations). However, for low-bit quantization, the inevitable quantization error will lead to significant accuracy degradation and gradient mismatch. In this paper, we propose Scale Estimation Quantization (SEQ). To reduce the quantization error, we analyze the variance of error derived by the quantization process. By exploiting the distributions of network values, we reduce quantization error and estimate the optimal scale parameters for our proposed quantization function. Further more, to deal with gradient mismatch problem in backward propagation, we propose backward approximation. We apply our algorithm on image classification tasks. Our method achieves a close performance to full-precision counterparts on VGG-Small and AlexNet with 1-bit weights and 2-bit activations.


Quantum coherence is a fundamental feature of quantum physics and plays a significant role in quantum information processing. By generalizing the resource theory of coherence from von Neumann measurements to positive operator-valued measures (POVMs), POVM-based coherence measures have been proposed with respect to the relative entropy of coherence, the $l_1$ norm of coherence, the robustness of coherence and the Tsallis relative entropy of coherence. We derive analytically the lower and upper bounds on these POVM-based coherence of an arbitrary given superposed pure state in terms of the POVM-based coherence of the states in superposition. Our results can be used to estimate range of quantum coherence of superposed states. Detailed examples are presented to verify our analytical bounds.


Pressure is a fundamental thermodynamic variable that can efficiently modify crystal or electronic structure leading to new material states of interest. Here we search the crystal structures of lead iodide (PbI2) up to 200 GPa using the swarm-intelligent CALYPSO structure prediction method combined with ab initio calculations. Four new stable high-pressure phases (orthorhombic Pnma, tegragonal I4/mmm, orthorhombic Immm and monoclinic C2/c) have been uncovered. A layered to three-dimensional structure transition from the ambient-pressure 2H phase to the orthorhombic Pnma phase is proposed to be taking place at ∼2.5 GPa. The newly proposed Pnma phase is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap of 1.68 eV. It is isosymmetric to the well-known cotunnite phase but with a very different bonding pattern. The semiconductor–metal transition of PbI2 occurs at ∼27.2 GPa, where the semiconducting Pnma phase transforms to the metallic I4/mmm phase due to pressure-induced broadening of both the valance and conduction bands. The metallic nature persists in the higher-pressure phases of Immm and C2/c up to about 169.1 GPa, above which PbI2 decomposes to its constituent elements. The current results represent a significant step toward the understanding of structural and electronic properties of PbI2 under compression.


Objective. In diffuse parenchymal lung diseases, the evolution of pulmonary fibrosis is often devastating and may result in death. In this study the role of CCL18 as a biomarker of disease activity in idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) with lung involvement was evaluated. Methods. CCL18 was assessed in supernatants of cultured bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells as well as BAL fluid and serum samples from 43 patients with IIPs, 12 patients with SSc, and 23 healthy control subjects. Concentrations of CCL18 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and expression of CCL18 was assessed by flow cytometry. Results. CCL18 concentrations were statistically significantly increased in all patients with fibrotic lung diseases. Spontaneous CCL18 production by BAL cells was negatively correlated with total lung capacity and the diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, whereas there was a positive correlation of CCL18 concentrations with BAL neutrophil and eosinophil cell counts. Flow cytometry revealed an increase in the percentage of CCL18-positive alveolar macrophages and an increase in the CCL18 fluorescence intensity per cell in patients with fibrotic lung diseases. In a cohort of patients who were followed up for at least 6 months (n 40), a close negative correlation was observed between changes in the predicted total lung capacity and changes in CCL18 serum concentrations. Conclusion. These findings suggest that CCL18 production by BAL cells and serum CCL18 concentrations reflect pulmonary fibrotic activity in patients with IIPs and those with SSc. Monitoring changes in CCL18 production might be an extraordinarily useful tool in clinical practice and in studies aimed at evaluating new approaches for treatment of fibrotic lung diseases.


Analysis of many human tumours reveals the presence of two or more heterogenous cell subpopulations. Lung cancer in particular exhibits a large degree of intrinsic heterogeneity. DLKP, a human lung cell line established from a tumour which was histologically diagnosed as a 'poorly differentiated squamous carcinoma', appears to consist of three morphologically distinct populations. In this study, three clones apparently corresponding to these populations were established from the parental DLKP cells. The growth patterns of these isolated populations in monolayer culture, soft agar, spinner flasks and serum-free medium were investigated and it was found that in all but the latter assay, the parental DLKP cells grew faster than each of the clones and that the growth of the clones themselves varied under the different assay conditions. One clone appears to behave similarly to a multipotent, stem cell-like population, capable of giving rise to the two other clonal morphologies. Variation between the clones was also seen in their respective chromosome numbers and in their ability to adhere to extracellular matrix proteins.

An immunohistological characterisation of the DLKP cells and clones was carried out. While each cell line was found to be negative for the expression of keratin and all other epithelial markers examined, the presence of neuron-specific enolase, protein gene product 9.5 and neurofilament reactivity indicated a degree of neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation. These results suggest that the DLKP cell line should be classified as either variant small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC-V) or non-small cell lung carcinoma with NE differentiation (NSCLC-NE).

Studies employing the differentiation-inducing agents, 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and retinoic acid (RA), resulted in induction of keratin expression in DLKP cells and in each of the clonal subpopulations. A similar effect was found in another keratinnegative lung carcinoma cell line in response to BrdU and this agent also appeared to
increase keratin expression in cell lines which inherently expressed keratin intermediate
filaments.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a phenomenon which plays a significant role in the fatality of lung cancer. The proliferative capabilities of DLKP were compared with those of an MDR variant cell line, DLKP-A, and no significant differences were found. In addition, a clonal subpopulation of DLKP-A were transfected with a ribozyme capable of targetting and reducing the expression of p-glycoprotein, a membrane efflux pump involved in drug resistance. Drug resistance was successfully reversed in transfected cells to levels approaching those of parental DLKP sensitive cells.


Purpose: During a typical 5-7 week treatment of external beam radiotherapy, there are potential differences between planned patient's anatomy and positioning, such as patient weight loss, or treatment setup. The discrepancies between planned and delivered doses resulting from these differences could be significant, especially in IMRT where dose distributions tightly conforms to target volumes while avoiding organs-at-risk. We developed an automatic system to monitor delivered dose using daily imaging. Methods: For each treatment, a merged image is generated by registering the daily pre-treatment setup image and planning CT using treatment position information extracted from the Tomotherapy archive. The treatment dose is then computed on this merged image using our in-house convolution-superposition based dose calculator implemented on GPU. The deformation field between merged and planning CT is computed using the Morphon algorithm. The planning structures and treatment doses are subsequently warped for analysis and dose accumulation. All results are saved in DICOM format with private tags and organized in a database. Due to the overwhelming amount of information generated, a customizable tolerance system is used to flag potential treatment errors or significant anatomical changes. A web-based system and a DICOM-RT viewer were developed for reporting and reviewing the results. Results: More than 30 patients were analysed retrospectively. Our in-house dose calculator passed 97% gamma test evaluated with 2% dose difference and 2mm distance-to-agreement compared with Tomotherapy calculated dose, which is considered sufficient for adaptive radiotherapy purposes. Evaluation of the deformable registration through visual inspection showed acceptable and consistent results, except for cases with large or unrealistic deformation. Our automatic flagging system was able to catch significant patient setup errors or anatomical changes. Conclusions: We developed an automatic dose verification system that quantifies treatment doses, and provides necessary information for adaptive planning without impeding clinical workflows.


Protein based biopharmaceuticals are becoming increasingly popular therapeutic agents. Recent changes to the legislation governing stem cell technologies will allow many further developments in this field. Characterisation of these therapeutic proteins poses numerous analytical challenges. In this work we address several of the key characterisation problems; detecting glycosylation, monitoring conformational changes, and identifying contamination, using vibrational spectroscopy. Raman and infrared spectroscopies are ideal techniques for the in situ monitoring of bioprocesses as they are non-destructive, inexpensive, rapid and quantitative. We unequivocally demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy is capable of detecting glycosylation in three independent systems; ribonuclease (a model system), transferrin (a recombinant biopharmaceutical product), and GFP (a synthetically glycosylated system). Raman data, coupled with multivariate analysis, have allowed the discrimination of a glycoprotein and the equivalent protein, deglycosylated forms of the glycoprotein, and also different glycoforms of a glycoprotein. Further to this, through the use of PLSR, we have achieved quantification of glycosylation in a mixture of protein and glycoprotein. We have shown that the vibrational modes which are discriminatory in the monitoring of glycosylation are relatively consistent over the three systems investigated and that these bands always include vibrations assigned to structural changes in the protein, and sugar vibrations that are arising from the glycan component. The sensitivity of Raman bands arising from vibrations of the protein backbone to changes in conformation is evident throughout the work presented in this thesis. We used these vibrations, specifically in the amide I region, to monitor chemically induced protein unfolding. By comparing these results to fluorescence spectroscopy and other regions of the Raman spectrum we have shown that this new method provides improved sensitivity to small structural changes. Finally, FT-IR spectroscopy, in tandem with supervised machine learning methods, has been applied to the detection of protein based contaminants in biopharmaceutical products. We present a high throughput vibrational spectroscopic method which, when combined with appropriate chemometric modelling, is able to reliably classify pure proteins and proteins ?spiked? with a protein contaminant, in some cases at contaminant concentrations as low as 0.25%.


Under a standard binary classification setting with possible model misspecification, we study the problem of estimating general Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, which is an arbitrary set of false positive rate (FPR) and true positive rate (TPR) pairs. We formally introduce the notion of optimal ROC curve over a general model space. It is argued that any ROC curve estimation methods implemented over the given model space should target the optimal ROC curve over that space. Three popular ROC curve estimation methods are then analyzed at the population level (i.e., when there are infinite number of samples) under both correct and incorrect model specification. Based on our analysis, they are all consistent when the surrogate loss function satisfies certain conditions and the given model space includes all measurable classifiers. Interestingly, some of these conditions are similar to those that are required to ensure classification consistency. When the model space is incorrectly specified, however, we show that only one method leads to consistent estimation of the ROC curve over the chosen model space. We present some numerical results to demonstrate the effects of model misspecification on the performance of various methods in terms of their ROC curve estimates.


Welfare reformers sought to reduce "dependency," or reliance on state-supported cash benefits and deployed a discourse of "self-sufficiency" to promote the legitimacy of efforts to remove welfare recipients from publicly funded cash assistance through either wage labor or marriage. We use longitudinal, qualitative interview data collected from 38 initially welfare-reliant women to examine what self-sufficiency means to them and their perspectives on how work and marriage affect their ability to be self-sufficient. Grounded theory analysis revealed that for these women, self-sufficiency means formal independence from both the state (i.e., Temporary Assistance to Needy Families [TANF]) and men (i.e., marriage). Although they value marriage as an institution and would ideally marry, they do not consider marriage to be a likely route to self-sufficiency given the pool of men available to them. Rather, they embrace their own market-based wage labor as the means by which they can attain some measure of independence. Taking our lead from the women in this study, we challenge the emphasis on marriage in current welfare policy. We argue that employment training that results in better jobs for women and men and work supports that make low-wage work pay are clearly the appropriate direction for policy aimed at the welfare-reliant and working poor.


Abstract Recent growth in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) across educational levels in Portugal has positioned it in European Commission reports (Eurydice 2012; 2017) and attracted much needed attention to the educational practice which warrants further in-depth exploration in order to better understand it and ensure quality provision in the country. This article explores the concept of CLIL at work in Portugal and highlights its brief trajectory to date as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents teacher educators and researchers. It provides an overview of the recently established Working CLIL research strand of TEALS (Teacher Education and Applied Language Studies) which is actively engaged in connecting CLIL communities in Portugal and beyond.


Hyperoxia has been shown to attenuate the increase in pulmonary artery (PA) pressure associated with immersed exercise in thermoneutral water, which could serve as a possible preventive strategy for the development of immersion pulmonary edema (IPE). We tested the hypothesis that the same is true during exercise in cold water. Six healthy volunteers instrumented with arterial and PA catheters were studied during two 16-min exercise trials during prone immersion in cold water (19.9-20.9°C) in normoxia [0.21 atmospheres absolute (ATA)] and hyperoxia (1.75 ATA) at 4.7 ATA. Heart rate (HR), Fick cardiac output (CO), mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP), central venous pressure (CVP), arterial and venous blood gases, and ventilatory parameters were measured both early (E, 5-6 min) and late (L, 15-16 min) in exercise. During exercise at an average oxygen consumption rate (Vo(2)) of 2.38 l/min, [corrected] CO, CVP, and pulmonary vascular resistance were not affected by inspired (Vo(2)) [corrected] or exercise duration. Minute ventilation (Ve), alveolar ventilation (Va), and ventilation frequency (f) were significantly lower in hyperoxia compared with normoxia (mean ± SD: Ve 58.8 ± 8.0 vs. 65.1 ± 9.2, P = 0.003; Va 40.2 ± 5.4 vs. 44.2 ± 9.0, P = 0.01; f 25.4 ± 5.4 vs. 27.2 ± 4.2, P = 0.04). Mixed venous pH was lower in hyperoxia compared with normoxia (7.17 ± 0.07 vs. 7.20 ± 0.07), and this result was significant early in exercise (P = 0.002). There was no difference in mean PAP (MPAP: 28.28 ± 8.1 and 29.09 ± 14.3 mmHg) or PAWP (18.0 ± 7.6 and 18.7 ± 8.7 mmHg) between normoxia and hyperoxia, respectively. PAWP decreased from early to late exercise in hyperoxia (P = 0.002). These results suggest that the increase in pulmonary vascular pressures associated with cold water immersion is not attenuated with hyperoxia.


To date no major research has been undertaken on the correspondence of Anne Sturges Bourne and Marianne Dyson (1822-1871) located in the Hampshire Record Office. This valuable collection of letters not only offers a wealth of information about the letter-writing practices of women from the landed gentry, it also provides the opportunity to examine the letter as a cultural and historical artefact. By using Marilyn Friedman's theories on women's friendships and relational autonomy, this thesis has been able to combine the methodology required for studying letters as a genre with the concept of the letter as a purveyor of social and cultural experiences. This has resulted in an interdisciplinary study which has analysed the important role that letter writing played in the development of Anne and Marianne's friendship, while, at the same time, demonstrating their intellectual engagement with the prevalent literary, religious, and philosophical discourses of the day. As a process which encouraged reflection, letter writing enabled these two women to develop a gendered subjectivity and to achieve degrees of personal autonomy in a social context. I argue that the supportive nature of their epistolary friendship empowered them to embrace life as single women and to pursue their shared ideals for the future, which, for them, meant a life spent in service to the Church and educating the poor. It also provided them with a route into authorship through their collaborative literary endeavours in support of the Anglo-Catholic doctrine of the Oxford Movement, or Tractarianism as it was later called. In the 1850s and 60s Anne and Marianne used the collaborative model of authorship they had developed for writing and publishing their own juvenile tales to support the novel writing of the major Victorian novelist, Charlotte Mary Yonge. While Yonge's habit of discussing her novels with friends and family is known from Christabel Coleridge's biography (1903), the empirical evidence found in the Sturges Bourne/Dyson correspondence provides a more nuanced account of the way in which literary collaboration could function. It also corroborates recent scholarly claims that female collaborative authorship was more commonplace in the nineteenth century than has hitherto been recognised. More significantly, the stories written by Anne, and Marianne in particular, were recognised in contemporary Tractarian circles as important contributions to the establishment of Anglo-Catholic doctrine for future generations. This marks Anne Sturges Bourne and Marianne Dyson out as part of a forgotten generation of women writers who paved the way, not only for Yonge, but for other known women writers of Tractarian fiction in the second half of the nineteenth century, such as Elizabeth Missing Sewell and Felicia Skene.


Temporal Information Retrieval is an emerging research area in the field of Information Retrieval. Due to the immense amount of data in the WWW, and because the contents of documents are strongly time-dependent, it is very tough for the user to retrieve the relevant documents. Traditional Information Retrieval approaches based on topic similarity alone is not sufficient for the search in temporal document collections. The time dimension available in the documents should be incorporated with document ranking for efficient retrieval. This survey gives an introduction to Temporal Information Retrieval and explores the different time-aware retrieval methods and temporal ranking methods for specific types of time-sensitive queries.


With a h.p.l.c. system, the inositol mono-, bis- and tris-phosphate isomers found in [3H]inositol-labelled GH3 cells were resolved and identified. These cells possess at least ten distinct [3H]inositol-containing substances when acid-soluble extracts are analysed by anion-exchange h.p.l.c. These substances were identified by their co-elution with known inositol phosphate standards and, to a limited extent, by examining their chemical structure. Two major inositol monophosphate (InsP) isomers were identified, namely Ins1P and Ins4P, both of which accumulate after stimulation with the hypothalamic releasing factor (TRH) (thyrotropin-releasing hormone). Three inositol bisphosphate (InsP2) isomers were resolved, of which two were positively identified, i.e. Ins(1,4)P2 and Ins(3,4)P2. TRH treatment increases both of these isomers, with Ins(1,4)P2 being produced at a faster rate than Ins(3,4)P2. The third InsP2 isomer has yet to be fully identified, although it is co-eluted with an Ins(4,5)P2 standard. This third InsP2 is also increased after TRH stimulation. In common with other cell types, the GH3 cell contains two inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) isomers: Ins(1,4,5)P3, which accumulates rapidly, and Ins(1,3,4)P3, which is formed more slowly. The latter substance appears simultaneously with its precursor, inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate. We also examined the effects of acute Li+ treatment on the rates of accumulation of these isomers, and demonstrated that Li+ augments TRH-mediated accumulation of Ins1P, Ins4P, Ins(1,4)P2, the presumed Ins(4,5)P2 and Ins(1,3,4)P3. These results suggest that the effects of Li+ on inositol phosphate metabolism are more complex than was originally envisaged, and support work carried out by less sophisticated chromatographic analysis.


The detailed classification of subspecialties of ophthalmology has helped to boost the development of ophthalmology in the past. However, while such detailed classification enables a clearer and more profound understanding of eye diseases, it has also brought about problems such as fragmentation of knowledge of ophthalmologists. On December 17, 2012, Academician Fan Daiming organized the first "Summit on Integrative Medicine" in Beijing and thus put the "Holistic Integrative Medicine (HIM)" in domestic medical development agenda. Inspired by HIM, the concept of Holistic Integrative Ophthalmology (HIO) was gradually accepted by most ophthalmologists. HIO systematically and integrally studies and analyzes the pathogenesis, treatment and specific issues of eye diseases and makes adjustment and improvement according to the social, environmental and psychological reality so as to produce a new system that can better meet and adapt to eye disease treatment. HIO is the innovation and revolution of the traditional concept of ophthalmology and signifies a new development stage of ophthalmology. This article identifies the challenges faced in the development of traditional ophthalmology, expounds on the concept of HIO, clarifies the necessity and urgency of the establishment of HIO, and proposes future direction of establishing the platform for the development of HIO.


The dissertation explores feminist uses of history and historicity. It discusses the way historicity is used in feminist constructivist arguments and it uses Judith Butler's work as an example. The dissertation elaborates on the predominant theoretical requirement to historicize. It is a contribution to the current feminist attempts to problematize some of the prevailing practices of constructivist thinking. As constructivist arguments for the most part build on the idea of the historicity of phenomena my historico-philosophical perspective brings valuable new insights into the problematization of constructivism.

My dissertation discusses the consequences that the predominance of historicism has for feminist constructivist theories, especially Judith Butler's theories of materialization and performativity.
My work is an attempt at crafting spaces where the necessity of historicizing could be questioned. I think up spaces where a "virtual non-historicity" or a "strategic forgetting of history" would be viable options for feminist thought. I do this by showing where and how historicity becomes a foundational and universalized idea in Judith Butler's theories of materialization and performativity.

Chapter 1 "Historicity in Question" situates my work within feminist theories of corporeality and discusses the relevance and background of a philosophy of history.

Chapter 2 "Historicity - Temporality" elaborates on the presumed historicity of concrete objects through the work of Luce Irigaray and Martin Heidegger. I argue that the idea of a fundamental historicity of objects already implies a contextuality. This primary connection between historicity and contextuality is used in various ways and it enables certain kinds of historicizing within feminist theories. I also explore the interconnectedness of historicity and temporality. I present a reading of the various temporalities that have been discussed within feminism. I problematize temporality through a discussion of the notion "event" in relation to the idea of "contingency". I analyze Judith Butler's use of the phrase "always already" and connect the temporal logic of her constructivist "always already" to chronology. I show that the universalistic necessities connected to chronology come to limit constructivist thinking.

Chapter 3"Social constructivism and historicity" discusses the relationship between constructivist thinking and historicist thinking. This is done by an analysis of how "the constitutive outside" is connected to historicity in Judith Butler's constructivist theory. Through an analysis of the connection between "history" and the "constitutive outside" I have wanted to render discernible the limits that this connection draws for thinking. If the "constitutive outside" is historicized, historicity becomes a priori in a foundationalist and universalizing way. I point at the necessity for thinking "virtual non-history" at these kinds of points. A strategic forgetting of history might open up a space where the form - matter distinction could be theorized without granting priority to the form by conceptualizing matter as an effect of historicity.

Chapter 4 "Performativity" is a discussion of the place of history in Judith Butler's theory of performativity. I discuss Jacques Derrida's non-historicized notion of iterability in relation to Butler's historicized iterability. I argue that if iterability is read as historically contingent, as Butler does, one cannot ask whether not "historical contingency" is enabled by a general iterability. If iterability is thought of as historically contingent the space for a strategic forgetting of history is foreclosed. If historicity defines the constitution of meaning in general there is no space for thinking "virtual non-historicity". With a reference to Luce Irigaray's work I argue that this is one of the main consequences of an unquestioned repetition of the homosocial bond between language and history. This repetition is done by reducing meaning to its historicity.

I suggest that feminists start practicing a strategic forgetting of history. I think that a space of virtual non-historicity can be opened. It is a space to think in. History should be cited subversively, that is, it should be cited incorrectly. In forgetting history we need an explicated remembrance of what power history is invested with. This remembrance is needed whenever the language of history is used - to avoid being used by its universalizing and foundationalist aspects.


Programmed cell death is a major component of both normal development and disease. The roles of cell death during either embryogenesis or pathogenesis, the signals that modulate this event, and the mechanisms of cell demise are the major subjects that drive research in this field. Increasing evidence obtained both in vitro and in vivo supports the hypothesis that a variety of cell death programs may be triggered in distinct circumstances. Contrary to the view that caspase-mediated apoptosis represents the standard programmed cell death, recent studies indicate that an apoptotic morphology can be produced independent of caspases, that autophagic execution pathways of cell death may be engaged without either the involvement of caspases or morphological signs of apoptosis, and that even the necrotic morphology of cell death may be consistently produced in some cases, including certain plants. Alternative cell death programs may imply novel therapeutic targets, with important consequences for attempts to treat diseases associated with disregulated programmed cell death.


of community transmission of in transmission with from sources can be identi-fied and increased incidence of colonization and among may


Firewalls, packet filters, intrusion detection systems, and the like often have difficulty distinguishing between packets that have malicious intent and those that are merely unusual. We define a security flag in the IPv4 header as a means of distinguishing the two cases.


Federal regulations grant the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to revoke a healthcare provider's Medicare billing privileges for submitting claims for services that could not have been provided on the purported date of service, such as billing for deceased beneficiaries. A Final Rule became effective in 2015 extending the authority of CMS to revoke a provider's billing privileges if CMS determines that the provider has a pattern or practice of billing for services that do not meet Medicare requirements. Violations under the Final Rule include situations in which a provider regularly and repeatedly submits claims for medically unnecessary services. While historically a provider's noncompliance exposed the provider to overpayment refund demands resulting from CMS audit activity, this new revocation authority emphasizes an even greater need for providers to ensure their billing and documentation practices are in compliance with Medicare reimbursement requirements.


This paper analyses the interaction between the EU's climate change objectives and its state aid regulation in the area of renewable energy through the chronology of the adoption of the EU's key policy documents and related legislation. The EU's state aid rules impose certain restrictions on the public financing of renewable energy, which is crucial for reaching the EU's climate change objectives in due time. The paper identifies four challenges in this respect. The ultimate challenge for the EU is how to reconcile science, the market economy and energy politics. Another challenge for the EU was the diverging national energy policies before the 'energy title' was introduced in the Lisbon Treaty. The third challenge for the Commission is how to move the climate change issues up to the top decision-making level. The final challenge is the state aid framework that supports climate change mitigation, whose upcoming changes should address the gap between ambition and reality. The paper aims to assess the policy consistency of the EU's climate change legislation in order to determine whether the EU's credibility as a 'green leader' is just nominal. The notion of 'nominal green leader' is related to the consistency of the EU's climate change legislation which seems not to have had the expected effect determined by the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. The paper brings the ambitious policies face to face with the data on state aid provided for climate and energy targets and compares them with the technological expectations in renewable energy deployment. The question that arises is whether it is time for the EU to balance the understanding of 'common interest' more towards climate change mitigation at the expense of certain elements of competition policy.
Keywords: climate change, competition, electricity generation, internal market, renewable energy, state aid.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution − Non-Commercial − No Derivatives 4.0 International License.

Suggested citation: D Vuletic, 'The Interaction Between the EU's Climate Change Objectives and Its State Aid Regulation in the Area of Renewable Energy' (2020) 16 CYELP 319.


The Weibel/filamentation instability is known to play a key role in the physics of weakly magnetized collisionless shock waves. From the point of view of high energy astrophysics, this instability also plays a crucial role because its development in the shock precursor populates the downstream with a small-scale magneto-static turbulence which shapes the acceleration and radiative processes of suprathermal particles. The present work discusses the physics of the dissipation of this Weibel-generated turbulence downstream of relativistic collisionless shock waves. It calculates explicitly the first-order nonlinear terms associated to the diffusive nature of the particle trajectories. These corrections are found to systematically increase the damping rate, assuming that the scattering length remains larger than the coherence length of the magnetic fluctuations. The relevance of such corrections is discussed in a broader astrophysical perspective, in particular regarding the physics of the external relativistic shock wave of a gamma-ray burst.


This study aims to 1) analyze the values of local wisdom Aceh traditional houses to mitigate earthquakes and tsunamis; 2) analyze community perceptions in maintaining (knowledge, attitudes, and behavior) local wisdom of Aceh traditional houses; and 3) reviewingtheroleofparentsinthelocalculturalinheritanceofAcehtraditionalhouses. The method used in this research is the qualitative method. Data collection is done by interviewing, observing, and documenting. The results show that: 1) Rumoh Aceh has the values of local wisdom to mitigate earthquakes and tsunamis. the values of local wisdom exist in the components of building forms and traditional ceremonies of Rumoh Aceh; 2) the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of local wisdom in Rumoh Aceh teaches the community to adapt, care about cultural heritage, and form a social family system, and 3) the role of parents in the cultural inheritance local wisdom of Rumoh Aceh, carried out through civilization and socialization by involving the role of young people in traditional activities.